Next Up in 4th Period: Climate Denial

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done and where Jack The Finger speaks to Louie The King.

We begin with a general survey of eight states in which the legislatures therein are committing themselves to raising at least one generation of stone blockheads. The states are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Dakota and, inevitably, and where the fck else? but, Texas. The Independent brings us the state of play.

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The Texan bill would allow science teachers to present ideas "that may cause controversy" on issues such as evolution and global warming. The proposals are the latest in a long-running debate over whether religious beliefs should be allowed in the classroom… Kimberly Villanueva, a teacher at a middle school in Texas, thinks that changing the law would actually help keep students in her classroom. "I had children last year get up and leave the classroom when we taught plate tectonics and evolution," she told Agence France Presse news agency. Should the bill pass, Ms Villanueva believes it would help keep her pupils in school and "open minds to scientific possibilities as well."

Fusion goes into the whole sad business in dismal detail. Pretty soon, we're going to lose the ability to use simple tools and feed ourselves.

In South Dakota, state Rep. Chip Campbell, R-Rapid City, said the bill would have enabled broader discussions in the classroom, according to The Argus-Leader. "In science it is imperative that we show not only the strengths but also the weaknesses of theories," he said. "Weaknesses, not strengths, are the key to finding the truth."

This started with the fight to teach creationism as science, morphed into a fake "Teach The Controversy" issue, and now has metastasized into a general assault on any science education that the local wingnuts find inconvenient.

The bills initially targeted evolution, but later, advocates came up with a standard list: biological evolution, the origin of life, global warming, and human cloning are considered the controversial topics in science education, Branch said… "A teacher could, on the public dime, teach creationism, flat-Earthism, white supremacism, and there would be nothing that the taxpayers could do about it," Branch said. "It's not that science teachers shouldn't have some freedom to do what they do; but all of these states already have all various kinds of regulations, policies, and informal practices that give a reasonable degree of freedom."

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So far, various institutional chokepoints have managed to keep the worst of this swill at bay, but the country's head is in a very weird place right now, and an awful lot is up for grabs that didn't used to be. A lot of people do seem committed, however, to abandoning everything that gave us space exploration, the Salk vaccines, Velcro, and Tang.

We move along now to the newly insane state of North Carolina, where the Republican legislative majority has not yet come to grips with the results of last November's gubernatiorial election, where suddenly unemployable former Governor Pat McCrory got booted in favor of the Democratic candidate, Roy Cooper. So the legislature is doing all it can to turn the governor into a lawn jockey. FromThink Progress:

Since North Carolina voters elected Democratic governor Roy Cooper in November, the Republican-dominated state legislature has been on a mission to take away the governor's power. The legislature's latest power grab is a series of bills that limit the power of the new Democratic governor to appoint judges and other officials. The proposed laws could give the legislature the power to pack the state courts, including the newly liberal state supreme court, with its preferred judges… The legislature is considering a bill to transfer the authority to fill vacant trial court seats from the governor to the legislature. Another bill would give the legislature sole power to appoint judges to empty seats on "special" courts, expanding its power far beyond its current role of confirming the governor's nominees. And yet another bill would reduce the size of the North Carolina Court of Appeals — "unpacking" the court to deny the governor the chance to fill two upcoming vacancies.

Some days, Roy Cooper must wake up and wish he'd gone to dental school.

Moving south to Florida, we find that, while the state's Stand Your Ground law was good enough for violent yahoos like George Zimmerman, it still needs more refinement, at least as far as the state's legislature is concerned. From the Tampa Bay Times:

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For the second consecutive session, Florida senators on Wednesday approved a bill (SB 128) from Fleming Island Republican Sen. Rob Bradley to shift the burden of proof — from the defendant to the prosecutor — in the pretrial phase of "stand your ground" cases. The Senate voted 23-15 on Wednesday, mostly along party lines and drawing praise from Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart. "If a prosecutor doesn't have the evidence to prevail at this immunity hearing … the prosecutor does not have sufficient evidence to win at trial," said Bradley, himself a former prosecutor. "Innocent people will not go free as a result of this bill; this bill isn't about creating loopholes."

Florida Man Scores In Improv Comedy Competition!

If the bill was already law, for example: In the recent high-profile case of former Tampa police captain Curtis Reeves, rather than requesting immunity from prosecution for allegedly killing Chad Oulson at a movie theater, Reeves wouldn't have had the pressure to explain himself before trial. Rather, by Reeves asserting "stand your ground," Pasco County state attorneys would have had to show evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt" — the same standard required at trial — of why Reeves should still be prosecuted. As happens now, a judge — not a jury — would decide whether the case advanced to trial.

Like so many other things, including Bush brothers and wild pythons, the standards in Florida for bleeding-heart judges are different than they are anywhere else.

And we conclude, as is our custom, with the great state of Oklahoma, where Blog Official Frackwater Jack Friedman of the Plains brings us another sad tale of Trumpkins allegedly Gone Wild. From NewsOK:

A Moore police report on the early March 9 incident was turned over to prosecutors Wednesday afternoon. A decision on the filing of criminal charges is expected Thursday, said Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn. State Sen. Ralph Shortey, 35, and the teenager admitted to police they had engaged in conversations "pertaining to sexual activities in exchange for money," a police detective wrote in a court affidavit for a search warrant.

The New York Daily Newsalso did a story, complete with photo of Shortey with Donald, Junior. The Internet is forever, Junior.

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